Early
afternoon calls are rare, and short ones even
more rare, such was the case in the warm
afternoon of June 30th. At 3:30 p.m. RMRU was
called out by the Sheriffs Office
concerning a 20 year old woman who was with her
church group for a day hike out of Humber Park.
The Devil Slide Trail starts at Humber Park and
switch backs for 2.2 miles of relatively steep
hiking to Saddle Junction., the "Gateway to
the High Country".

The
information we had been given was that she had
been hiking up the trail with her group and as
the steepness of the trail began to have
its effect on the "novice"
hikers, they became scattered all along the
trail, hiking and stopping at different
intervals. She was one of the first to reach
Saddle Junction. When the rest of the group
reached the junction, all were accounted for but
her. This occurred at 8:30 a.m., the group called
and called for her with no response. Group
leaders hastily searched down nearby trails to no
avail.

By
the time RMRU was contacted, nearly seven hours
had passed since her disappearance. This time
element concerned us because the day had been
extremely warm and it was unknown is she had
carried any water with her. The cool mountain
streams which usually flow this time of year were
nearly nonexistent because of drought conditions.

RMRU
quickly dispatched teams of two different trails
leading in and out of the "High
Country" to cover any of her possible exits.

Bob
Baker and I, both from Idyllwild, took the
assignment to cover Devils Slide Trail. We
charged up the trail, trying to cover the open
territory as quickly as possible. About ¾ of the
way up, we ran into a hiker who said, if we were
looking for a young woman who was lost, we could
find her hiking down with a couple of hikers who
had stopped to help her find her way back.

We
proceeded up the trail and soon found, as the
other hiker had said, the subject who was in good
shape. We shared our water with her, which she
graciously accepted, radioed into base and
escorted her back to the welcome arms of her
companions. A while two hours had transpired, and
I thought "wouldnt it be nice is most
missions could be so short and with such sweet
ending".